Licensing Act 2003: Guidance

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Why, during an interview on the BBC's "Today" programme on 13 January, the Home Secretary advised licensing authorities to phase the time at which public houses and clubs close when the guidance on the Licensing Act 2003 indicates that licensing authorities should not "seek to engineer staggered closing times".

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Under the Licensing Act 2003 a licensing authority can set a mixture of closing times through the granting and review of individual licenses, on which representations have been made. As this approach is based on responding to representations, such as those from the police and local residents, it does not contradict the guidance to licensing authorities about the artificial engineering of closing times through the setting of quotas.

Anti-social Behaviour Orders

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether, after consultation with relevant persons and groups, they will issue guidance on applying for anti-social behaviour orders in respect of certain types of person, with particular reference to pimps, kerb crawlers and prostitutes.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Anti-social behaviour orders are civil orders that exist to protect the public from behaviour that causes or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress. Detailed guidance was issued in 2002 and we have no intention of issuing guidance on applying anti-social behaviour orders in respect of pimps, kerb crawlers and prostitutes.
	ASBOs have been used in a number of local areas to protect communities from the harassment, alarm and distress caused by kerb crawlers and those involved in prostitution. These orders have proved to be most effective when used alongside other measures to tackle the problem.
	Under the Police Reform Act 2002 an order can be made in addition to sentence where someone is convicted of a criminal offence. The advantage of an ASBO is that it encompasses the totality of the person's anti-social behaviour rather than dealing with each criminal offence in isolation. The order also addresses the impact of the behaviour on other people and its primary purpose is to protect them from further anti-social behaviour.

Non-custodial Sentences: Guidance

Lord Hylton: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will issue guidance to those responsible for imposing sentences on the ways in which non-custodial sentences can be combined with fines, compensation orders, restorative justice conditions and agreements for drug and alcohol treatment.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The Government have provided a new range of sentences for the courts including conditional cautions, a new community order and a new suspended sentence order, which all provide opportunities for the offender to do reparative activities and consent to drug and alcohol treatment in the community. These sentences can be used together with fines and compensation orders so that the court has greater flexibility to tailor the sentence to the offender and the offence. All sentencers are receiving training on these new measures, which are contained in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and will be available for offences committed on or after 4 April 2005.
	It is for the Sentencing Guidelines Council to issue guidelines to all courts on sentencing.

Armed Forces: Personnel

Lord Astor of Hever: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What was the actual strength of the Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and Royal Marines on 31 March 1997 and 31 March 2004.

Lord Bach: The information requested is given in the table below.
	Figures are for UK Regular Forces, including both trained and untrained personnel; and therefore exclude Gurkhas, full-time Reserve Service personnel, the Home Service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment, mobilised reservists and naval activated reservists.
	
		Strength of UK Regular Service personnel on 1 April 1997 -- and 1 April 2004
		
			 Service 1 April 1997 1 April 2004 
			 Royal Navy   
			 Officers 7,220 7,030 
			 Other Ranks 31,230 26,610 
			 Total 38,450 33,640 
			 Royal Marines   
			 Officers 700 740 
			 Other Ranks 6,000 6,510 
			 Total 6,700 7,240 
			 Army   
			 Officers 13,720 14,720 
			 Other Ranks 95,090 98,030 
			 Total 108,810 112,750 
			 Royal Air Force   
			 Officers 11,040 10,960 
			 Other Ranks 45,830 42,430 
			 Total 56,870 53,390 
		
	
	All figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in "5" have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. Due to the rounding methods used totals may not always equal the sum of the parts.

Standards Board for England: Remit

Lord Greaves: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether equity requires that non-elected members of public bodies such as local strategic partnerships and health authorities should be subject to the same rigour and scrutiny regarding standards in public life as elected members; and whether they propose to extend the powers of the Standards Board for England to cover such bodies.

Lord Rooker: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no current plans to extend the remit of the Standards Board for England to include local strategic partnerships and health authorities. Local strategic partnerships are not statutory bodies and members of such partnerships would be bound by the codes of conduct of their own organisations, such as those existing for local authority members, which are policed by the standards board. Questions relating to health authorities are the responsibility of the Department of Health.

Sport Funding

Lord Pendry: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether, in allocating money to grassroots and elite sports, they will take account of the wider intangible benefits of sporting success, including its effect on national pride, community cohesion and public health.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The Government acknowledge the contribution that sport makes in tackling health, social exclusion and building community cohesion.
	Sport England's recent announcement of its four-year funding totalling £315 million for 32 priority and development sports in England has been allocated against a number of criteria including consideration of these issues.
	This investment spans grassroots to international elite performance and is designed to make England active: helping people to start and stay in sport, providing the solutions to increase and widen the base of participation for everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnic origin or disability; developing a dynamic network of clubs, coaches, and volunteers: to create a sustainable infrastructure for retaining people in sport.

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline Project

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) investigated the compliance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline with local law, as defined by the host government agreements for the project prior to agreeing guarantees for the pipeline; whether it was ECGD's understanding that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines on multinational enterprises formed part of the legal regime for the pipeline; and whether the OECD guidelines fall within the main criteria applied by the ECGD in making its assessment of the BTC project.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: I refer the noble Lord to the reply I gave on 12 January (Official Report, col. WA 71).

Nigeria: Bonny LNG Terminal

Lord Avebury: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What action they have taken concerning allegations made in the Guardian, BBC "File on Four", and the Nigerian newspaper This Day, that corrupt payments amounting to $180 million in connection with the Bonny LNG terminal in Nigeria, a $7 billion project partly financed by the Export Credits Guarantee Department, were channelled through a London lawyer.

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The ECGD has no investigatory powers in relation to such allegations but always refers any allegations of corruption which are brought to its attention to the National Criminal Intelligence Service.